Friday, February 13, 2015

Nathaniel White’s Birthday Party

Henry County, Iowa1878

Menus from small dinners in private venues during the nineteenth century are few and far between. They seem to have first appeared in the late-1860s, when women’s groups began to occasionally engage the services of local printers to produce menus for church fundraisers and other social gatherings, becoming one of the ways they could make their events a little more special. Since much of the information about these get-togethers was already known by the participants, such menus often lack essential details about time and place, making them difficult to decipher. Therefore, I had low expectations when I started to research a menu from a birthday party in 1878 for a farmer named Nathaniel White. Nevertheless, with a little bit of luck, I was able to determine the identity of the celebrant, the location, and possibly even the reason why menus were printed for this occasion. One of the most interesting things that I learned about this pioneer was something that happened many years earlier. Nathaniel White moved to Iowa in the early 1830s when it was still a territory. Using his skills as a cabinet maker, he made furniture for the new State House in Burlington, before taking up farming near Mt. Pleasant. At about the time of hissixty-seventh birthday party in 1878, White was diagnosed with “Bright’s disease,” a term then used for various kidney diseases. Haunted by premonitions of his death, White reportedly became depressed by his illness. He was popular with friends and family alike, and so it appears that every effort was made to pick up his spirits, including having a menu printed for the celebration.

The bill of fare is inscribed with some last-minute additions, presumably food brought by visitors from neighboring farms. As a result, the menu provides a full account of this festive dinner. Among the numerous desserts, there are four cold-weather pies—apple, mince, pumpkin, and squash. It may seem unusual to see the word “celery” scribbled on the menu as a special dish, for we now take this difficult-to-grow vegetable for granted. However, in the nineteenth century, it was a wintertime luxury. Before the first frost, celery was carefully dug up with the roots intact and replanted in boxes of sand in the root cellar, or set close together in a trench in a cold frame, where it could last for many weeks.

When Nathaniel White died in 1883, his obituary recounted that the most memorable moment of his life happened fifty years earlier when traveling in Iowa to stake a claim. It was on that trip that he saw Chief Black Hawk, the legendary brave who fought on the side of the British during the War of 1812, and later, led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors in the Black Hawk War. Interestingly, both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis participated as young men in the brief Black Hawk War, thereby securing its place in American lore.

Welcome

Menus generally first appeared in the United States in the late 1830s. They came into being with the earliest hotels and restaurants, and at a time when service à la russe—the serving of dishes in courses rather than all at once—was growing in popularity. For the first time, diners were granted choice and anticipation.

Menus aid our cultural memory. They provide unwitting historical evidence—not only of what people were eating, but what they were doing and with whom they were doing it; who they were trying to be; and what they valued. Deciphering the story behind a particular menu often requires great sleuth-work. That’s what I'll be undertaking on this website.

My collection of menus illustrates American history and culture beginning from the mid-19th century. It contains bills of fare from a wide variety of venues, ranging from restaurants and hotels to private organizations, military units, steamships, and trains. From the start, the menu has been an art form. Some were beautifully crafted by printers or high-society stationers to celebrate special events. Others simply expressed the whimsy of everyday life.

Even when saved as personal souvenirs, menus were frequently discarded by subsequent generations for whom they had no special meaning. As with other types of ephemera, one aspect of their appeal lies within the notion of their improbable survival.

Viewing the Menus

Scroll over images for photo credits. Click on the picture to enlarge the image.

About Me

Collecting menus reflects my interest in history and culture, including the social and food customs of everyday life. I am a member of the Ephemera Society, Grolier Club, Library Company of Philadelphia, and Delaware Bibliophiles. You can contact me at Henry.B.Voigt [at] gmail.com